Visions for 2008

With the end of the year fast approaching, for individuals, thoughts often turn to New Year's resolutions. For organisations, the equivalent might be a review of their Vision and Mission statements.

Following a discussion on the merits of vision and mission statements with my Masters learning set and a review of the approach bubble takes to organisation development, I was prompted to share some thoughts.

Many organisations, large and small, have written vision and/or mission statements. Some are put together with the support of representative employees and actually reflect the true strategic intent and values of the organisation. However, in my experience very few prove to be motivational beyond the first few weeks of introduction and many are looked at with cynicism from day one. Moreover, I've seen organisations with and without vision and mission statements achieving similar levels of engagement and success.

So if the vision and mission statements aren't doing it in terms of motivation and engagement, what is? Well, don't throw the vision and mission statements away just yet. Vision and mission are extremely important to motivation and engagement, just not in the written, high-level, generalised, stuck on the wall form that most organisations create.

What is important is the spirit of the vision and mission, expressed through the actions of every employee. I call this the organisation's "reason for being". And it isn't about product, service, market share or quality - although these remain important. It's more to do with community, learning, growth, shared experiences, friendship.

An organisation's reason for being is about community and meaning, and its vision is about product and profit. The former motivates and engages, the latter gives direction and work goals. Both are necessary. Both need attention. Great companies know this and deliver the former in bucket loads.

Are there any lessons for the individual setting New Year's resolutions? Look into your heart for goals that offer meaning. They are more likely to offer up the necessary motivation through their very own reason for being.

A partridge in a pear tree

The "12 days" of christmas originated when days began at sunset. They went from sunset on December 25th to sunset on January 6th. Because days now start at midnight, in some places the 12 days start on December 25th, in others on December  26th- interesting hey?

This information has dramatically changed my life, as  i have always thought the 12 days of christmas started 12 days before christmas, so it would start this thursday! i had already got my carol sheet to hand and started getting my throat into tune, resulting in a sore throat!! - you really do learn something new everyday! 

The 12 days of christmas carol is one of my favorite festive songs, as it gets everyone involved and has everyone in fits of laughter trying to remember the verses. People also have different interpretations as to the meanings of " 2 turtle doves" or " 7 swans are swimming"

If you want to learn more about this (some people like me do!) look at the following link:

 

BBC Christmas Carols

and if you really want to get into the festive spirit and the 12 days of christmas early get singing!

Time to reflect

I'm typing this from deepest Sussex in the fantastic surroundings of Roffey Park Institute where I'm on my 3rd Masters residential. It's great to meet up with my fellow cohort members and to be exposed to top class academics and speakers. Most of all it's so beneficial to be away from the desk and from home, in 44 acres of beautiful countryside with time to reflect. Time to be and not to do. We are after all human beings not human doings. It's useful for me to remember that sometimes.

The Return

October 15th

Well my 2 weeks off has been and gone and I have returned to my morning routine of fighting for the shower, fighting to eat my breakfast whilst fighting with my 1 year old to get ready, all to get into the car and fight my way through the traffic to the office.

Only today’s car journey was slightly different, it was accompanied by the voice of Michel Thomas, the linguist who in his lifetime has learnt over ten languages and has taught many of Hollywood’s A-list stars to speak a variety of different languages.

This is because on my 2-week break I set a goal that I will learn Spanish. My husband, Dan has successfully worked his way through the Michel Thomas audio language course in Spanish to the advance stages, and not to be outdone I will follow in these great footsteps.

Being a keen football fan, to help make his learning more fun, Dan would translate the sports pages of Spanish newspapers. Great idea I thought. What could I translate to keep my interest and make it more fun?

I know! Just off to the newsagents to buy ¡Hola! the Spanish version of Hello! As well as learning Spanish I’m also going to be up to speed with all the gossip and be able to discuss the latest must-have celeb sandals with the locals on my next trip to Spain. Hasta la vez próxima mis amigos.

I'm worried I'm sounding like my parents!

Maybe it happens to all of us as we "mature" but the best entertainment on the radio I've heard for eons has been the Radio 1 Birthday celebrations! The best part for me has been the Golden Hour on Chris Moyles - me, crawling along the motorway with other drivers thinking I must be doing some kind of remote audition for x-factor!! The issue though is when discussing the covers of classics such as town called malice with my other half, I caught myself letting out a nostalgic breath and stating "well, its not a patch on the original, I used to listen to that tune when I woz a young........, no shoes......, 18 miles to the nearest shop....,etc". Now, certainly the first part of my good ol'days speech was accurate, however there is no excuse for spouting absolute tosh - it's like cars "not been what they used to" - good, it's called progress - heaters, MP3s, cruise control, reliability...... ok, come to think of it the 2 things aren't connected - McFly doing town called malice and technological advances in travel, my only conclusion to this story is that, on reflection, I'm now ranting like my grandparents!!

Starbucks and The World Café

After a quiet weekend of writing and watching the world cup rugby, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the power of the spoken word when one is attempting to find new meaning amongst a collection of apparently disparate thoughts.

I'd got to a point with my writing where instinctively I knew there was a common thread appearing but just couldn't put into words what it was. I did the usual things like walk away from the computer and make a brew. I even did something completely different (put some plaster in a hole in my wall) but still my thinking didn't reveal the insight I knew was waiting to emerge.

By chance, a friend sent a text to say they would be in Starbucks in half an hour and did I fancy a coffee and a catchup. I don't need asking twice and I was in the car in minutes.

After commenting on how shabby the local Starbucks was beginning to look, the conversation turned to the piece I was writing. Within 5 minutes of articulating the content and my thinking to that point, wouldn't you know it, the insight I was looking for came right out of my mouth in clear and concise form. Brilliant! I love it when that happens. Just articulating my thoughts through the spoken word was enough to move my thinking to a new place.

This reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a fellow L&D professional who is looking to utilise the concept of The World Café in her organisation. I revisited the book last night and found the following few words that seem to sum up this type of experience. One of the book's authors quotes her 84 year old mum who shared this insight:

"You see, conversation is action. You can think things and you can feel things but it doesn't become 'real' until you express it. Then it begins to germinate."

The World Café by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs - definitely worth a read. Starbucks, Macclesfield - could do with a good clean.

A great day out

A trip to the Call Centre Expo at the NEC this week held a couple of surprises.

The first was meeting Michelle Dewberry, last years winner of The Apprentice. She's smaller than she looks on telly - but isn't everyone?. I've not read her book yet but it has some very enthusiastic reviews. I might get round to reading it or more likely ask Rog or Nic to read it - I've got loads of reading piled up already!

Anyone out there already read it and want to comment?

This encounter reminded me of the time I interviewed Ruth Badger for a sales role. She was in the final stages of the application process for The Apprentice at the time so her application with us didn't progess any further. It's a small world.

But best of all from the Expo was hearing Sir Ranulph Fiennes talk of his lifetime of adventures and the lessons learned. Fascinating and very amusing. Rog and I got a signed book each which was an added bonus. We flicked straight to the gory pictures of frost bitten toes and fingers - ouch!

Oh to have one tenth of the discipline, perseverance and courage of Sir Ranulph!

That's it for now. Friday today so off to watch England beat Tonga.........please!!!

Under Starters Orders!

It would appear that we're off. I think that we were expecting a fanfare or something. Turns out that the CIPD conference in Harrogate was our launch pad. We spent a few days talking, discussing, walking and generally getting our faces around!

It served us well, allowing us to gradually hone our messages, adjust them for our audience, and prepare us for the delivery side of things.

The team at bubble have spent time over the past few months making sure that everything is ready to go, hence the lack of fanfare when we stepped into the commercial world with our offering. It feels right, like we were born to do this.

Actually, we are already working with client organisations, but we didn't really feel really up and running until the website is live. So crack open the champagne, and have a glass on us, in the words of Stuart Hall doing 'It's A Knockout', 'They're off!'

One of the things we do well, is delivering on agreed expectations. So your experience with bubble shouldn't be like the following clip!